No Sale, No Sale!

Our street had a garage sale today. We put an ad in the paper. I put out several items on the lawn to sell.

A woman passed by and asked for fabric. I pulled out a long piece of blue and white striped cotton and an even longer piece of yellow cotton with red peppers on it. She asked about the striped fabric. I knew that if I gave her a price, she would buy it. I was about to part with this precious piece of blue and white striped cotton. I said, "I don't know how much I want for this. It's 18 years old."

"Oh then it will fall apart as soon as I put it in the wash," she said, "I give you $1 for it."

"No no no, I don't want to sell it. This was my son's room curtains when he was a baby. I can't sell it." So I took it back.

Next, an elderly couple passed by and wanted my free-standing hammock. "How much?" the man said.

"Urrr... $10."

He phoned his son to see if he wanted it. I started to panic. I was about to lose my beloved hammock that I've barely rested in. It's so darn big I have no room in the garden for it in summer and no storage room for it in the shed in winter. The Man hates it. I had to get rid of it. The old man came back and said he would take it. I said, "No no no, I want to keep it. It's practically new. I'll find room for it."

That's when my neighbour stepped in and said, "Stop it. You complain about it all the time. Now's your chance to give it a good home."

"You're right," I said. So I sold it to the elderly couple for $10.

The first lady came back and asked about the yellow fabric with red peppers. "I don't know what to do with such a big piece of fabric," she said, "It could just stay in my basement. But how much you want for it?"

That's it. I can't part with my fabric. For one thing, I paid over $300 for it years ago and I keep thinking I could do something fun with it. And besides, she doesn't love it. She wouldn't pay much for it anyway. "Very sorry, I have to keep this. I love it too much."

After this, I sold a cloth bag for 10 cents to a strange man, and The Boy's old broken scooter for 50 cents to the little boy a few doors down. Then I went up the street to give someone $3 for the ad in the newspaper. My haul today was $7.60 and I am still mourning over the loss of my hammock, though relieved it's no longer hogging up room in the garden.

Everything else I put back in the shed, waiting for another bout of courage to hit so I can discard them.